CHOSEN GENERATION

The Finding Emet radio program aims to help listeners understand and live the truth of the Bible from a Hebrew perspective. The program features the teaching of Brother Daniel Rentalman and provides access to additional audio lessons and teaching articles on the Emet Ministries website. The slogan for our faith is found in 1 Peter 2:9, which describes believers as a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a peculiar people. This verse emphasizes the importance of connecting the true faith to the Old Testament and the faith of the patriarchs. The Old Testament should not be seen as outdated or replaced by the New Testament, but rather as the foundation of our faith. Hello, and welcome to the Finding Emet radio program. Emet is the Hebrew word for truth. This program will help you understand and live the truth of the Bible from a Hebrew perspective. The Finding Emet radio program features the teaching ministry of Brother Daniel Rentalman of Emet Ministries. Prepare your heart to receive the Emet, the truth of the scriptures. More audio lessons and teaching articles are available at the www.emetministries.com website. Please visit our site to find all things spiritual, including a free online Bible search program, or submit your prayer request. That's www.emetministries.com, or www.findemet.com. CD copies of this teaching are available for free by submitting a request at the website. Let's welcome our teacher, Daniel Rentalman, as he helps us find the Emet. Do you remember this one? Maybe she's born with it. Maybe it's Maybelline, okay. A craze was started when this office company started a certain slogan, Staples. That was easy. That was easy. The easy button. Bop, bop, this thing, so what a release it is. Alka-Seltzer. Are you in good hands? That's good. All say? All right. How about the dairy community? What's theirs? Got milk? Got milk? It's interesting that the Dairy Association had such huge success with the Got Milk campaign that they took it over to Mexico and when they translated it, they didn't do it correctly and it actually said, Are you lactating? So you have to be careful when you're taking slogans over to other languages. I did find a few funny slogans. Is this okay? Are you lactating? I found a few funny slogans I thought I'd share. Easy to remember. The Louisville Septic Tank Company, their slogan, We are number one in the number two business. The Milwaukee Tires, their slogan, Invite us to your next blowout. Oh, I don't know about that. The Los Angeles Plastic Surgery, their slogan is, We can pick your nose. Truth. It's called, We can pick your nose. I like this one. The Houston Towing Company, the Houston Towing Company, their slogan is, We don't charge an arm and a leg. We want toes. We want toes. But I think my favorite I found here was from the Smith Trash Service in Evans, Colorado. Satisfaction guaranteed or double your trash bag. That's pretty good. You know, double your trash bag. So I want you to think for just a minute, since we're talking about slogans, what if we had a slogan for our faith? What if this generation? This generation of Bible believers could be defined by just a few words. You know, what if what if we could choose what those words are going to be? And I'm not saying we're going to have a big advertising campaign, but what if we could choose that? W.W.Y.D. What would Yeshua do? I like that. So what if we had a slogan for our faith? What if we had a motto? What if we had to sum up the mission, the calling, the direction, the purpose, the goal of every Bible believing saint out there? Now, many different ideas. We said a couple of different things, but I think my personal opinion, they would all have their foundation. I think there's a slogan for us in first Peter, chapter two, verse nine. So let's turn there as we begin our teaching today called a chosen generation, a chosen generation, because just as there are great advertising slogans out there like Coca-Cola, the real thing or McDonald's, I'm loving it. You know, we know it. There is a slogan, I believe, for our faith. And it is right here in first Peter, chapter two, specifically in verse nine. So first Peter, first Kepha, chapter two, verse nine. This is a little long for a slogan, but it'll work. First Peter, chapter two. And in verse nine, it says, You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people. But you should show forth the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. I could call this the slogan of the saints. But this one verse holds so much for us, agree, that there are treasures beyond measure just by looking here. Yet we often forget about it. So today we're going to discuss this verse in detail and we're going to answer a lot of questions. So in the next 50 minutes or so, we are really going to be on a fast track. Some of the things we're going to look at is what does it mean to be a royal priesthood? Who is the holy nation? Who is it that we're going to be? Who is Israel? Who is a Gentile? What is a Gentile? Why does Israel matter? Who is a Jew? What about the church? What nation is it speaking about here? Has the church replaced Israel? What does it mean to be a priest? All of these things we're going to look at, we're going to discuss, and it's important to see that our slogan for our faith begins in in first Peter, chapter two, verse nine. And it says, You are a chosen generation. These words were written to the first century believers. These words were written for us today. Now, many times, you know, people will say, well, I'm a Christian or I'm a I'm a New Testament believer. We've heard these phrases before. Yet these words were written. It says, You are a chosen generation. Now, let's take a look at this motto, this slogan in context. Context is important. I mean, so let's take a look and let's begin. Let's start a verse five. Let's read in context. You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to Yahweh through Yeshua. Therefore, it is also contained in the scriptures or in the writings. Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone. Elect precious and he that believes on him will by no means be put to shame. Therefore, to you who believe he is precious, but to you who are disobedient, the stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of defense continues on. They stumble being disobedient to the word to which they were appointed. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special peculiar people that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. You were once not a people. But now you are the people of Yahweh, you had not obtained mercy, but now you have obtained mercy. So in reading this in context, we see that the slogan of our faith. Is surrounded by many interesting words and concepts, mostly found in the Old Testament. Or what I like to call the Older Testament, this section of scripture that says you are chosen generation, which is surrounded by many, many quotes from the Older Testament, shows us that the true faith is directly connected to the faith of the patriarchs. To be even more clear, let's take a look. It says, behold, I lay in Zion, a chief cornerstone that is a direct quote from the Old Testament. It says he who believes on him will by no means put to shame. That is a direct quote from the Old Testament. It says the stone the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. Guess what? That's in the Old Testament. It says a stone of stumbling, a rock of defense. Guess what? That's in the Old Testament. Go on down to where it says you were once not a people, but are now the people of Yahweh. You had once not obtained mercy, but now you have obtained mercy. Guess what? That's from the Old Testament. Anybody know where the book of Hosea? The book of Hosea, direct quotes from the Old Testament surrounding what we just read, our slogan is building on not removing the faith of the Old Testament. Now, let's let's look at something here real quick. We're talking about the Old Testament, right? You get your Bible, you've got the Old Testament, you got the New Testament, you got a glossary, you get the little tabbies at the Christian bookstore, it tells you where all the books are. I think that it would behoove us to do well to stop calling it the Old Testament. Did you know that the Jews did not call their Bible the Old Testament? You're not going to find a Jew carrying around an Old Testament. And for good reason, when we say there's the Old Testament, there's the New Testament, did you know that we're actually creating a dividing line? So I say if you have a Bible and you've got that dividing page that says New Testament, maybe a blank page, tear it out. Tear it out. Now, some people may say I'm going to hell because I tell you to, you know, to take that page out of your Bible, but it doesn't belong there. Many times people have a dividing line in their mind of how Yahweh, well, this is how we related to man. Then this is how we relate to man today. It's old. If something's old, is it good for today? No, it's good for nothing. You know, this week I wanted to dress up a little nicer to go to work. So I went to my closet and I pulled out an old sports coat, you know, plaid sports coat. And I said, wow, I'm going to make a statement today. And it was old, it was tucked way back. And I said, I can do this. I'm going to wear this. I look nice. So I go to work and somebody says, oh, you look nice. You look nice. And then a few minutes later, somebody comes up to me and they say, Daniel, you look nice, but. You have a huge stain on the back of your jacket. I said, what? And I take it off and there it is. It looks like someone spilled half a gallon of coffee on the back of the jacket. Didn't even see it. It was old. No good. I said, man, I need to go out and get a new jacket. The old one is out of style. The old one is stained. The old one has been done away with. You can take that over to what we call the Old Testament, the New Testament, because many people believe that Yahweh chose the Jewish people in the Old Testament, but because they rejected the Savior, then he chose the Gentiles in the New Testament. The phrase old connotates something, you know, replaced. Now, I like to call it the Older Testament. But there's something wrong with that. I say, let's begin to use and correlate a phrase in a word used by Yeshua himself and by the Jews today. And that is, instead of calling it Old Testament or Older Testament, Tanakh. Everybody say Tanakh. Tanakh, Tanakh, T-A-N-A-K-H, Tanakh. If you were to go to a rabbi or Jew today and say, well, show me your Bible, show me the Old Testament. They'd look at you and say, I don't have an Old Testament, I have a Tanakh. And they would pull it out and you would see that that includes the books that's what's in what we call the Old Testament. And you would also notice they're in a little different order than the King James Version. The Tanakh is what's considered the Old Testament, but it's in proper perspective. And the Tanakh is a word, it's an acronym. Like you have USA, it's an acronym for United States of America. It's an acronym for Torah, Nevaim, and Ketuvim. Torah, but Torah is a Hebrew word. What we would actually say is instructions. It is loving instructions, Torah. But what is considered law by many today, the law of Moses, the first five books of the Bible called the Torah. Then in the Hebrew Bible, we have the Nevaim. And if you are a Navi, that means you are a prophet. Elijah was a prophet, he was Eliyahu Hanavi, Elijah the prophet. The Nevaim are the prophets. And then finally, we have the Ketuvim. Ketuvim. Sounds like ketchup, yeah, the Ketuvim. And that means writings, the other writings like the Proverbs, the Psalms, the other writings. Ketuvim. But let's say if we're going to talk about the Old Testament, you could just say Tanakh. And somebody may say, what are you talking about Tanakh? What's the Tanakh? Well, let me tell you, because Yeshua used Tanakh. We see in Matthew chapter five, he talks about the Tanakh. In Matthew five, he talks about the writings and the prophets. And in Luke 24, 44, here's what he says. Then Yeshua said to them, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Torah, the what? T, Torah, the prophets, Nevaim, N, and the Psalms, that's part of the writings, Ketuvim, must be fulfilled. And every Jew that heard him when he said that, oh, he's talking about the Tanakh. The Torah, the Nevaim, the Ketuvim, the Tanakh. Now, it's interesting that Yeshua said everything must be fulfilled. It means he says it's got to come to pass. But Tanakh, it's a Hebrew word. I said whenever we can use a Hebrew word, we need to use it. Amen. So it's in the Tanakh that actually our motto is found. So we're looking at the verse in first Peter, and guess what? It's found in the book of Exodus. It's found in the book of Exodus. Now, some people assume wrongfully that the Torah or the writings of Moses are obsolete. But did you know that the Torah, the law of Moses, is quoted over 245 times directly in the newer Testament? Paul, who many people say, oh, well, he taught against the law, Paul quoted Torah 110 times himself. In fact, there are over 695 direct quotes from the Tanakh that are in the newer Testament, the renewed covenant. Each and every book of the Tanakh can be found in the newer Testament. So it's no surprise that our motto that we just read in first Peter, chapter two, verse nine, is found here as well. So let's turn to Exodus, chapter 19, to read it in real context, because we just found that our motto is there's verses from Hosea, there's verses from the Psalms. But in Exodus, chapter 19, we see that the nation of Israel has been delivered with a strong, mighty hand from bondage of Pharaoh. They're at the mountain. They're preparing to receive instructions from Yahweh. And they are told to approach the mountain with reverence and worship. And in Exodus 19, verse five and verse six, it says, now, then. If you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession among the peoples for all the earth is mine. You shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel, a kingdom of priests, a set apart people, a holy nation. So the question is, who is Yahweh speaking to? What nation is he speaking to? Israel, is he not? Not just the Jews, but he's speaking to the nation of Israel because there's a distinction between a Jewish person and an Israelite. We'll talk about that in a few minutes. But this was the mission and motto for the nation of Israel thousands of years ago, and this is our motto today. The words are repeated. The same words that were spoken to Israel apply to us because we are Israel. Now, I was recently asked. If a Christian should wear a tallit and blow a shofar, is it OK for a Christian to wear tallit, prayer shawl, blow a shofar, the ram's horn? Because what's happening is the TV preachers are doing this and the evangelists are showing this and the Jewish customs, you could say, are becoming more popular. I was visiting someone's home, it was actually my boss's mother. We went just to stop by one day and I go to sit down and I look and I can't believe my eyes what's sitting on their couch. It's a tallit, it's a prayer shawl. And his mother is, you know, son of Baptist. I mean, she cut her teeth on the third pew in their Baptist church. I mean, she's been there all of her life and there was a prayer shawl sitting there. And so it led to a great conversation that we were able to have great opportunity to share because she'd been there and the question was asked, should or can a Christian wear a tallit and blow a shofar? Now, I responded with a resounding yes. And I said that this person should realize that they're not just a Christian. It's not a matter of Jewish customs and Christian customs, it's not a matter of just Jewish things and Christian things. I said this person should realize that if they believe in Yeshua, they are Israel. Peter told the believers here and he told us today, you are a chosen generation. Who's the you? You speaking to us, wasn't he? But these are the words spoken to Israel 2000 years ago. And what nation that says you are a holy nation, what nation? The nation of Israel. Now, if you were to ask most preachers, you know, about the coincidence that this is in both the Old and the New Testaments. There are types of a couple of different answers you would get. Number one is some would say that the Jews were emphasis on were the chosen people of God, but because of their disobedience, the church has taken their place. And there are those out there that believe that the church has become spiritual Israel and that the church now inherits the blessings given to Israel. This is called replacement theology. Replacement theology, and it teaches basically that the church of a New Testament church has replaced Israel in the program of God. That the church is the new Israel. And that the promises made to Israel in the Bible are fulfilled by the Christian church. Have we heard this before? Now, replacement theology says that Jewish people are no longer the chosen people. They're no they're no different than any other group out there than Spanish people or than African people than whoever. We are taught that since Pentecost, Acts chapter two, the term Israel that's found in the Bible now refers to the church. But the promises, covenants and blessings ascribed to Israel have been taken away from the Jews and given to the church, which has superseded them. However, guess what? The Jews are still subject to the curses because they rejected Jesus. There's some major problems with this type of thinking. A couple of things happen when the church replaces Israel. Number one, the church gets arrogant. And self-absorbed, it devalues the role of Israel. And it's basically called anti-Semitism. And how many know that many New Testament passages do not make sense when the Jewish people are replaced by the church? That we lose the significance of the Tanakh or the Hebrew scriptures. Because we don't we don't know it. How many know also that the Bible of the early believers until the fourth century was the Old Testament, the Tanakh? It was not until the fourth century that the New Testament was codified. All they had was the scriptures, the Hebrew scriptures and their memory of it. Now, there's another popular teaching out there. Replacement theology is bad enough, but there's another type that's out there that I believe it's even worse. And I may rattle some bones or theologies or whatever this one. So open up a little bit. And this is one that's beginning to take rise, and this is probably in most evangelical camps what is believed about Israel. This is what most TV preachers say about Israel. This is what most seminaries teach about Israel. And it's wrong, but I want to show you why it's wrong. And it's called dispensationalism. Dispensationalism. And the dispensationalism says that the church and Israel are two different groups and that God deals with the church one way, he deals with Israel the other way. He has a plan for each. And they say that, you know, there was the age of law and now we're in the age of what? Grace. Dispensational theology teaches us that salvation has always been by faith in Yahweh. That's OK. And they teach that the church has not replaced Israel. But Israel has its own plan or so. And that the Old Testament, you know, will be fulfilled, the Old Testament will be fulfilled with that thousand year reign, Revelation 20. And basically this leads to a thinking and theology is very popular today. Very popular today. And here's kind of the basis of it, that there was the age of innocence, you know, Genesis 1 through 3, the age of consciousness, the age of human government, the age of promise. That was Genesis 12 through Exodus 19, the age of the law from Exodus 20 to Acts chapter 2. And then in Acts chapter 2, with Pentecost, with the birth of the church, began the age of grace. And then finally, there's that setup dispensation, which is what? The millennial kingdom. Now, again, these are not ways of salvation, but manners in which God relates to man. It results in this, a pre-tribulation rapture teaching, right? I mean, that's that's what Tim LaHaye teaches. It's what John Hagee teaches. It's what many, many of the great people on TV teach. And it provides an easy way to read the Bible. Because you don't have to spiritualize every promise in the Old Testament. Well, that goes to Israel, the Jews. OK, that's fine. But it doesn't apply to us. So dispensationalists teach that the Old Testament applies to who? The Jews. And the New Testament applies to the Christians. And the Old Testament is bedtime stories or is sermon illustrations. Or this is a way that they did it then. And we can learn from the principle, but we don't have to do what it says. The ideas of the Old Testament are important, but they don't have to be followed. You get saved in a dispensational church. The first thing they do is they hand you Gospel of John. I understand that, but I also understand if you get a Stephen King novel and you pick up on page 400 when it's an 800 page book, you're going to be lost. You're going to be lost. Most dispensationalists assert that since the Torah, the writings and the prophets are not specifically directed to the church, then they do not have to be followed unless you're talking about tithing. Since this dispensationalism teaches there are two separate entities. Like you're the group of elect Pat Robertson, Tony Evans, Rick Warren, T.D. Jakes, the big people who started this teaching, if you were to look it up, were Schofield and Charles Ryrie. They support Israel. And I respect John Hagee. John Hagee basically says, you know, we support Israel. We have these Stand with Israel rallies. He does these great things for Israel, sends them plenty of money, goes over there and teaches, but but he views them as a separate group from the church. The big problem with this type of teaching is called antinomianism. Antinomianism. Antinomianism, you might want to write that down, A-N-T-I-N-O-M-I-A-N-I-S-M. What is antinomianism? Nomia is the Greek word for law. Nomia is the Greek word for law that's used in, you know, if you get a strong concordance, you were to look up law in the Greek, it'd be nomia. Antinomianism is the teaching that the law of Moses has been abolished and done away with and is no longer necessary or needed or even practical for today. Of course, that's contrary to Matthew chapter five, it says heaven and earth will pass away until one jot or one tittle passes away. And I believe antinomianism, the idea that the Torah or the Tanakh or the Old Testament is not for us today, is probably the greatest stumbling block that faces the church, that faces Christianity. Dispensationalists will say that we are going under legalism. Heard this before? And many of them, if you look at what they're doing, they're actually in the legalism because they're making their own rules. Don't drink, don't smoke, don't party. And basically they say that those are Jewish commandments. Have you heard this? Why do you want to keep the Jewish law? Why do you want to do the Jewish festivals? Isn't that Jewish? And that they were only given to Israel. Basically, dispensationalists believe that, you know, they're the church, the ecclesia, the called out ones. Since the Torah was given only to the Israel, it doesn't apply to them. What's interesting here is that the Torah says there is one law. The other thing about dispensationalists is they believe that there's Israel and there's Gentiles, that basically we are Gentiles. If you're not Jewish, you're not an Israelite, you're a Gentile. I mean, that's what I was called. I mean, I never went through sermon. I never went to the sermon on dispensationalist 101. My pastor never said, you know, today's sermon, dispensationalist 101. You are a Gentile, they're the Jews. There's still that wall of separation there. And it's totally wrong because the Torah says that there is one law. It says that Yahweh despises unequal weights and measures. Isn't that what it says? Now, let's take a look at Ephesians chapter two. Let's just not talk about it. Let's look and see why this is wrong. Ephesians, Ephesiah chapter two. In Ephesians chapter two, starting in verse 11, we're going to expose why dispensationalist idea, that the church and Israel are two separate groups. And this is really good. Ephesiah chapter two, verse 11. Therefore, remember that you formerly were Gentiles in the flesh. You were called uncircumcision by the so-called circumcision, which is performed by the flesh of human hands. Remember that you were at that time separated from Messiah, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenant of promise, having no hope and without Yahweh in the world. Verse 13, but now when Yeshua, you who were formerly far off, have been brought near by the blood of Yeshua. For he himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall by abolishing in his flesh enmity, which is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in himself he might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace and might reconcile them both in one body to Yahweh through the cross or execution stake by it having put to death the enmity. And he came and preached peace to you who were far away in peace to those who were near. For through him, we both have access in one spirit to the father. So you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of Yahweh's household. Having been built up on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Yeshua himself being the chief cornerstone in whom the whole building being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in Yahweh, in whom we are also being built together into a dwelling of Yahweh in the spirit. Now, a few things here, this clears up. It says, number one, in verse 11 says, you remember that you were formerly Gentiles. You can't be a Christian Gentile. It's an oxymoron. The word Gentile in Greek is ethnos, where we get the word ethnicity from, what ethnic background. It means nation. It means it actually means pagan. In Hebrew, it's the word Goy, and it means pagan to say that, you know, to say that, well, I'm a I'm a Christian Gentile is saying that, yeah, on one hand, I'm a Christian, I believe in Christ. On the other hand, I'm a pagan. I'm a total unbeliever. We'll look at that a little bit more. And then it talks about I want to point out, it says that remember that you can't be this, and it says in verse 12, remember that you at at that time were separate from Messiah and you were excluded from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenant of promise, having no hope and without Yahweh. But when we have Yeshua, what happens? We are included in the commonwealth of Israel. We have the covenants. We have the promises. And it says in verse 15, it talks about abolishing in his flesh the enmity, which is the law of commandments contained in the ordinances. If you study that out, the enmity was not the Torah. The enmity was the fact that we couldn't keep the Torah. The enmity was the fact that our sinful flesh caused us to disobey Torah. And what does Torah do? It shows us our sinfulness, amen? And in Galatians, chapter six, let's turn there real quick. Galatians, chapter six, verse 16, it shows us this again. It says here, and those who walk by this rule, talking about by faith, peace and mercy be upon them and upon the Israel of Yahweh or of God, of Elohim. That it says here that we are called the Israel of God or Israel of Elohim. Romans, chapter one, verse 16, says, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Yeshua, for it is the power of Yahweh unto salvation to everyone that believes. To the who? To the Jew first and also to the Greek. We're Gentile. In Romans, chapter 10, verse 12. How about this? It says there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek. Or of a Jew and the Gentile, for the same master over all is rich unto all that call upon him. Galatians three, we all know there's neither Jew nor Greek. There's neither bond nor free. There's neither male nor female. But we are all one. How many? One in Yeshua. We are one. And if you are born again, you are one in Yeshua. And Paul spoke about this as well. That Yahweh doesn't have two groups of elect people, the Jews and the Christians. That we shouldn't interpret the Bible from the theological understanding that Yahweh has two groups of people. No. Deuteronomy 25, 13. It says you shall not have in your bag differing weights, a large and small. One of my favorite verses is Exodus 12, 49. It says there shall be one law for the citizen of Israel and for the Gentile who dwells among you. One law. One law. Yahweh does not change his mind. Let me try it again. Yahweh does not change his mind. Amen. The Almighty is not divided. We do not need to be mistaken. These theologies prohibit us from understanding what's going on today, when it says you are chosen generation, it's speaking to us. Because let me ask you, if Yahweh has rejected Israel or replaced them, why should we stand with them? Why should we pray for them? Israel has not been replaced, but explained. Let's go back to our verse in 1 Peter. It says you are chosen generation. If a person is born again, then they are born again into the commonwealth of Israel. They aren't just a Christian, but they are an Israelite grafted into the vine of Israel. And the truth is, we've all been grafted in, Jew and Gentile, because we were all messed up. It is imperative that during these last days, we recognize and understand just who Israel is and how it plays a part in what's going on. So who is Israel? Who is a Jew? Who is a Gentile? Let's talk about that. Israel is more than just the Jewish people. Israel is more than just a little country in the Middle East. It's the chosen people of Yahweh. In Jeremiah 31, it says, Yahweh says this, I am a husband to Israel. Israel is the wife of Yahweh, the soul mate of Yahweh. Yahweh does not believe in divorce, nor is he a polygamist. Amen? Yahweh has share with Israel. He's given Israel his spirit, everlasting covenant. Now consider for a minute that Israel was a name given to who? Jacob, right? Jacob wrestled with an angel in Genesis. And the nation of Israel is simply this. It's Jacob's descendants, Jacob's children. Jacob inherited the covenant, the promise that was given to his father. Who was his father? Isaac. That was given to his father, Abraham. Now remember back, Abraham is in Babylon. He's called out of Babylon. He said, leave your father's house and come out. And there it's called, Abraham is called the first Hebrew or Ibrim. The word Ibrim means to come over, to cross over, to overcome. So when we say we're Hebrews, we're overcomers. We are Ibrim. Amen? And guess where he's leaving? Babylon. He's leaving Babylon. And Yahweh says, if you obey, you'll be blessed. If you disobey, you'll be cursed. And everybody that blesses you will be blessed. And it says in Genesis 15, Abraham believed the word of Yahweh. And it was accounted to him as righteousness. Now, Abraham gives birth to Isaac. And to Isaac, the promise is passed, Genesis 26, 4. And then to Isaac has a son. And who is his son's name? Jacob. Jacob is the promised son, not Esau. Jacob. And here's what it says in Genesis 35, 11. When the promise is repeated to Jacob, it says in Genesis 35, 11, that from you will come forth a nation and many nations. How many? A nation and many nations. How many? A nation, one specific nation, one specific people, and many nations, many peoples. A nation, Israel, and many peoples. Could we even say nations, Gentiles, pagans, heathens? But Jacob had how many sons? Twelve sons. Who did they become known as? The twelve tribes of Israel. And the nation began to grow. They were enslaved to Pharaoh. Remember that? They had the plagues. Let my people go. They leave Egypt. They come to the mountain to receive Torah. And guess what happens there? Exodus chapter 19, Yahweh says, You are a chosen generation. You are a royal priesthood. He gives them Torah, not gnomia, not the law. He gives them living instructions, loving instructions. And then what happens? Do they go straight to the promised land? Do they get raptured to heaven? No. They wander in the desert for 40 years because of sin. And they're learning to accept Torah and reject Egypt. And they're given the choice of blessing or curse. Right. And what do they do? They yo-yo, just like we do. They yo-yo with blessing or curses. And so these prophets come and they say, Turn back, repent, go back to Yahweh. Isn't that what the prophets do? The priests come, turn back, repent. They beg for kings. The kings come. What was the job of the king? To tell the people to live for Yahweh. If you read in Deuteronomy, the kings were supposed to write their own Torah scroll. Their job was to appoint the people there. And finally, there comes a king who is after Yahweh's own heart. What was his name? David. Yet we know David wasn't perfect. But he leads the nation to military victories and military victories over all the surrounding countries. And he says, Yahweh, I want to build for you a house. And Yahweh says, no, your son. His son is named who? Solomon. In Hebrew, Shlomo. I love that name, which means peaceful. Shlomo. Now, his son becomes king and there is peace. The nation is unified. Now, how many tribes are there? The twelve tribes are there, right? How many people? All the sons of Jacob. But when Solomon dies, as we see in First Kings, Chapter 12. So turn there with me. There is a civil war. First Kings, Chapter 12, 26 to 28. When Solomon dies, Israel splits. This is worse than the north and the south. First Kings, Chapter 12, 26. There's two guys, they got funny names that sound similar, Jeroboam and Rehoboam. I don't know why they can just been named Jerry and Al, but it just, you know, Jeroboam and Rehoboam. And Jeroboam said in his heart, now the kingdom shall return to the house of David. If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of Yahweh at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their master. Even under Rehoboam, king of Judah, they shall kill me and go again to Rehoboam, king of Judah, whereupon the king took counsel and made two golden calves. And he said to them, it is too much for you to go to Jerusalem. Behold, your gods, oh, Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt. When Solomon died. Jeroboam and Rehoboam fought over the kingdom. And Jeroboam was in the northern kingdom as Israel was kind of divided. And the majority of the tribes lived in the northern kingdom. And a few of the tribes, basically two or three of those tribes lived in the southern kingdom. Benjamin, Levi, Judah, and in the southern kingdom is where Jerusalem was. And that's called the land of Judea, the land of Galilee is called the northern kingdom. Also called in the scriptures Ephraim, if you've ever read the prophets, you'll say to the northern kingdom, this to the southern kingdom, that to the northern kingdom, to Ephraim, this to Israel, this northern kingdom is called the northern kingdom Ephraim or it's called Israel. The southern kingdom is referred to as the southern kingdom and Judea. Well, in Judea was Jerusalem. And they have the Torah scroll, they have Torah, they have the sacrifices, they want to continue with their worship of Yahweh. But there's wicked Jeroboam up in the northern kingdom where most people are. And he says, no, we don't want to do that. I want to be king. So Israel goes from having one king and one law and one standard to what? Two kings, two laws, two standards. Doesn't that sound like dispensation? Oh, well, that's a separation of people. Wicked Jeroboam recognized that the nation of Israel would be restored if they went down to Jerusalem to worship. That's what we just read. He said, if they go down, their hearts will turn to Yahweh and to Yahweh's king in the south. So wicked Jeroboam set up two golden calves. Guess what else he did? He set up all holy days, he gave them new laws to follow and he persuaded his people, the northern kingdom, the ten tribes there to not worship Yahweh. To not follow the Torah of Moshe, it didn't matter. He said, it's too much. It's too hard. Don't we hear that sometimes from people? It's too hard to keep Torah. If you break one, you've broken them all. Might as well forget it. He says it's too much. And he succeeded and he turned the hearts of the people to the gods of Egypt. And how many know that the northern kingdom was later punished by exile? Yahweh deals with his people through exile. Garden of Eden, what happened? They were kicked out. Sin separates people from Yahweh. And what happened here with the northern kingdom is this is what's called the Assyrian captivity. In 722 BC, the northern kingdom, comprised of the ten tribes of Ephraim or Israel, were scattered by the Assyrians. They were taken captive by Assyria and they have never returned fully. Now we read about what happened to Judah, to Judea. What happened to them? They had their own sins and they had their own captivity. Who came in there? Babylon. Remember that? And so you had the Babylonian captivity in 586 BC. And the southern kingdom, those people were taken captive. But what happened? They returned, didn't they? We read about their return, about their going into captivity in Daniel. But later in Ezra and Nehemiah, we read about the rebuilding of the temple from the Babylonian captivity. It's important to note that the northern kingdom, the people from the north that went captive by Assyria, never returned. But we actually read that they mixed in with the people. But scriptures say they use a big word, they assimilated. If I eat a cookie, it assimilates into my body. You no longer see that cookie, do you? It becomes part of me. Well, guess what happened? These physical Israelites who were in the northern kingdom, I'm saying physical Israelites, sons of Jacob, grandsons of Jacob, were taken captive and they assimilated into the nations. They continued to grow and to multiply, which, by the way, was the promise to Ephraim and Manasseh. They continued to share their bloodline, but they lost their identity. They forgot who they were. And a recent MSNBC article estimates that a tenth of today's population is directly descended from this group in Israel. And that's what is called the Ten Lost Tribes, because in Israel you had basically the ten up north, you had the two down south. They were called Israel. Guess what those who lived in Judea were called? Jews, Yahudim. Make it real simple. You're from Seleuta, Seludite. OK, I'm from Newberry. I'm a Newberryan. So, but how many know that not every American is a Seludite? Not every American is a Newberryan. Not every Israelite is a Jew. But every Jew is an Israelite and every Newberryan lives in America. The southern kingdom were taken captive by the Babylonians. The northern kingdom were taken captive by the Assyrians, but the southern kingdom came back. Did you know that this division was prophesied and what's happening was prophesied? So turn to Deuteronomy 30, Deuteronomy 30, beginning in verse one. Deuteronomy 30, verse one. Now it shall come to pass when these things come upon you, the blessings and curse which I've set before you and you call them to mind all the nations where Yahweh has driven you. He's talking to Israel that are in the nations. Verse two, and you return to Yahweh your Elohim and obey his voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children with all your heart, with all your soul. That Yahweh your Elohim will bring you back from captivity. And have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where Yahweh has scattered you. If any of you were driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there Yahweh will gather you and from there he will bring you. Then Yahweh will bring you to the land which your fathers possess. What is that? Physical Israel, the land of Israel. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. In verse six, and Yahweh your Elohim will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants to love Yahweh your Elohim with all your heart, with all your soul, that you may live. This is happening today. We are a chosen generation. This started in 1948, started a little bit before then and behind the scenes, but in 1948 when Israel become a nation, here is when it began. It says in Jeremiah 29, 14, it says, I will be found of you, says Yahweh. I will turn away your captivity. I will gather you from all the nations, from all the places where I've driven you. I will bring you again into the place where I cause you to be carried away captive. What did Yeshua say? He said, I came to seek and save who? The lost sheep of the house of Israel. Is the church separate from Israel? No. In fact, it is entirely possible that Christianity has been primarily represented by physical Israelites who assimilated into the nations 2700 years ago. Think about the woman in Matthew 15. The woman comes, she begs, oh, you know, my daughter's sick. She's got a devil. Yeshua says, I came to seek and save the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And he didn't look to her. And then he said, you know, it says in Matthew 15, 25, then she came and worshiped him saying, help me. And he said, you know, it's not right to take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs. Why was that? Because she was not she was not an Israelite. But what did she say? Even the dogs get to eat the crumbs that fall. And Yeshua said, oh, woman, great is your faith. He didn't say, lady, you're not an Israelite. Forget about it. Lady, you can't prove to me you're an Israelite. Forget about it. Lady, where's your DNA test that says you're an Israelite? Forget about it. He said, great is your faith. What does it take? It takes faith to believe we are the commonwealth of Israel. Very few of us say my father was Jewish. Yeah, I know I'm from the tribe of Judah, the southern kingdom. Many, many more of us know that we're from the greater commonwealth of Israel. Commonwealth, it's common and we have a great wealth in meaning. But what did Yeshua say? Salvation came first to the Jew and then the Gentile. Isn't that what Paul said? It's the power of salvation to the Jew first and then to the Gentile. So who's a Gentile? The word pagan Christian is an inaccuracy. Ephesians 219 says you are no longer strangers and aliens, but are fellow citizens with the saints and are of Yahweh's household. What's Yahweh's household? Israel. Webster's Dictionary. Webster's Dictionary defines a Gentile as a heathen. A Greek, in Greek, Gentile is ethnos. Those who believe in Yahweh and in his Messiah, we are not foreign to him, are we? If you believe in Yeshua, if you've been born again, are you Gentile? Are you foreign from him? No, we're not Gentile Christians. We're not pagans. We've not replaced Israel. The church is not separate from Israel. We are Israel. We're learning more about that every day. We are a chosen generation. The nation of Israel is coming back together and people are realizing their identity. It's not just about learning Hebrew roots. People contact me all the time. Oh, I want to learn my Hebrew roots. Let me tell you something. You don't need to learn your Hebrew roots. You need to know that you are a Hebrew root. You've been grafted into the vine. You're the root. You're the root. Yeshua's the vine. We've been grafted in. First Peter, chapter two, verse nine, it says, you are a chosen generation. Speaking to us, speaking today. Now, in Bible times, a generation was like 40 years or 100 years, 120 years. A specific generation with a specific people for a certain purpose. That's us. We have been chosen by Yahweh. John 15, 16. You did not choose me, but I chose you. Why did he choose us? He says, I chose you and ordained you. But you should go and bear fruit and your fruit would remain. Now, whatever you ask the father in the name of the son, he shall give to you. You are the chosen generation to show forth his praises, to shine his light. Isaiah 42, verse five and six. Speaking to Israel, thus says Yahweh, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath to its people. I am Yahweh. I have called you in righteousness. I will also hold you by the hand and watch over you. I will appoint you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the nations. Who? The nations. What are the nations? The Goyim, the Gentiles. Those who are out there who don't know. The problem is that the very nations to which Israel was sent has done what? Rejected them. Rejected us. Doesn't it say we will be rejected and despised of all men? So let me ask you, why did Yahweh choose you and not Billy Graham to show this to? Why did Yahweh choose you and not Joyce Meyer or T.D. Jakes? Let me tell you, Yahweh chooses the unlikely. He chose David. He chose the virgin. Moses, the murderer. He could have chosen the famous TV preacher. And you know what? It would have all been about them. Their latest charismatic craziness or their latest theology. But Yahweh has chosen a small band, a remnant of believers all over the world who are opening up their eyes to turn the world upside down. That's us. We are a chosen generation. There's been a generation since 1948. In 1948, what happened? Israel became a nation, right? 1967, Jerusalem was captured by Israel. Did you know that the World Council of Churches was founded in 1948? Did you know that the organization Planned Parenthood was founded in 1948? Did you know that the World Trade Organization, empowered by the UN, which is the organization empowered to regulate the global economy, was founded in 1948? We are a chosen generation. We live in a unique time, a time of restoration. We live in a special time. People say, oh, I cannot wait for the imminent return of Jesus. Turn to Acts chapter three and we're going to see when Yeshua is returning. Judah and I, Judah, my son, he said, Daddy, you think you know everything? I said, yeah, that's what mama says. And he said, Daddy, you think you know everything, don't you? I said, yeah, I think so. He said, well, tell me, when is Yeshua coming back? I said, I know. So I know, he said, tell me, when is Yeshua coming back? I said, I know when Yeshua is coming back. He said, when is Yeshua coming back? And I said, I can tell you exactly when Yeshua is coming back. He said, when? When Yahweh tells him to. When Yahweh tells him to, that's when he's coming back. In Acts chapter three, in verse 19, it says, therefore, repent and return. So that your sins may be wiped away in order at the times of refreshing may come from Yahweh, verse 20, that he may send Yeshua the Messiah appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things, which Yahweh spoke about by the mouth of his holy prophets in the ancient times. It tells us here that heaven must receive Yeshua until the restoration of all things spoken about by the prophets. Yeshua just can't come back tomorrow. He's being held in heaven until certain things are restored on Earth today that the prophets talked about. What did the prophets talk about? The restoration of Israel. They kept calling them back, repent, return to Yahweh. There are certain things that have to take place. And here it begins. How does it take place? Verse 19. How was the nation of Israel restored? How are things going to take place? Verse 19. Repent and return. Repent and return. You are chosen generation. As darkness increases, so does Yahweh's light. Amen. The purpose of the nation of Israel was to be a nation of priests, a royal priesthood, to be a kingdom of priests who served Yahweh. And each of you have certain gifts. You have certain talents. You have abilities that you can do to serve him. In the temple, the priests sacrifice, they serve, they worship, they clean, they pray, they labor. Guess what? The body of Messiah is the same way. Let me ask you, what are your abilities? Where is he gifted to you? What can you do? Now do it for him. Do it for the body here. Do it for the body near your family. We serve a great high priest. Amen. And guess what else happens? He says you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. Everybody say holy nation, a kadosh nation. Holy kadosh in Hebrew means set apart. This is pivotal. First, it says you are a holy nation. Me and you. Not just you and not just me, but we we need each other. There are times we come together to worship. I don't feel like coming. You know what? That's when I need you. And there are times you don't feel like coming. And that's when you need me. We are the body of Messiah. We are chosen generation set apart to Yahweh. We might not feel like it. We might not act like it, but we are a nation. Now, let me share something with you. That's totally foreign to our mindset. We all understand personal salvation, do we not? We understand personal identity. You got to find yourself, sow your wild oats, find yourself. But there is a principle in the scriptures of national identity and national salvation. That you are born again as a believer, you have identity with Yeshua, but as a nation, as the nation of Yahweh, as Israel, the Commonwealth of Israel, we are joined with others. Just as we are personally set free and restored, the nation of Israel is set free and restored as we come together as one. So it says you go to your Christian friends and say, let's turn to first Peter. Let me ask you about this verse. When it says you are a holy nation, what nation? The United States, a Christian nation. What nation was he speaking to? And then turn to Exodus 19 and say he was speaking to Israel. We need to be concerned about what happens in Israel. Watch the news, pray, support the ministries, Deuteronomy 7, 6. It says you are a holy people to Yahweh. Yahweh, your Elohim, has chosen you to be a people for himself, a special treasure. Above all the peoples of the face of the earth, special treasure sounds like peculiar people, we should all seek to have a heart for Israel. Romans 10, 1. Romans 10, 1. We'll talk about Paul for a minute. People love Paul, Paul, Paul, Paul, Paul doesn't believe in the law. Paul said this, Paul said that. Read what Romans 10, 1 says. He says, brothers, my heart's desire in prayer to Yahweh for Israel is that they may be saved. That should be our prayer. We need to pray, number one, for workers for the harvest. I mean, we need workers for the harvest. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. And we need to pray that all Israel is saved. Galatians chapter 5, it says that if you belong to Christ, you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. That word for seed is sperma. Physical descendant, Peter calls us a peculiar people. Couldn't we agree? But do you know why we are peculiar? And I just got to go there. You can meet. A good person. And an average Christian, and they are the same. Now, there are evangelicals that are out there, you know, that are vibrant in their faith, but I'm talking about your your just average believer. And a good person are very similar. And that's sad, but it's true. How peculiar are we being? Do you know why we're peculiar? The Torah makes it clear we are peculiar because of the Torah. But if you don't have the Torah, you're not peculiar. In many places, it's popular today to be, quote, unquote, you know, a Christian. It's not popular to keep Torah, is it? When they were in Egypt? When they were in Egypt, what happened? There came a king that did not know Joseph. They were dispersed out in the lands. What about when they were in when Haman approached King Xerxes? Here's what it says in Esther, chapter three. Verse eight and nine, it says there is a certain race of people scattered through all the provinces of your empire. Their laws are different than any other nation, and they refuse to obey the laws of the king. It is not the king's interest for them to live. So if it pleases your majesty, it should decree that they be destroyed. And they will be destroyed. It's the laws that make us peculiar. The Torah, again, all this surrounds going back and understanding that who we are is Israel. If we are born again, we are Israel, and there are many people out there who don't know that and don't accept that, don't understand, they've got an idea, but it's just OK to be, oh, I can just, you know, I'm a Baptist, I'm a Methodist. But there's so much more for you. That's like the tip of the iceberg. Yahweh's got great plans for us, amen? He said to the nation of Israel. To the nation of Israel, he says, behold, I know the thoughts I think about you, says Yahweh. Thoughts of shalom and not evil to give you a good hope in the end. We are a generation that is seeing the end, amen? The idea of just wanting to learn Hebrew roots goes so far because it's still just Jewish festivals, it's still been just Jewish stuff. But when we realize what the Yahweh has won people and he's called us all, I mean, even in the book of Acts, in the King James Version, it uses the phrase the church in the wilderness. So our slogan and our motto explains this. We are chosen generation. This is the time. We are royal priesthood. We are to serve each other and Yahweh. We are a holy nation set apart for Yahweh. And we are peculiar by his word. To show forth his praises, it says, to him that called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. My prayer is that we live up to that slogan, that motto. Thank you again for listening to the Finding Emet radio program. Please visit our website to learn more about the Emet, the truth of the scriptures. Search the Bible, submit your prayer request or read an article on various subjects. The website is www.findemet.com. That's www.findemet.com. CD copies of this teaching are available for free by submitting a request at the website or write to us at Emet Ministries, 1310 Trent Street, Newberry, South Carolina, 29108. That's Emet Ministries, 1310 Trent Street, Newberry, South Carolina, 29108. Thank you again for listening to Finding Emet with Daniel Rendleman. May you find the Emet and may the Emet, may the truth set you free.